Which court case established access to abortion in the United States?

Which court case established access to abortion in the United States?

• A. Brown v. Board of Education
• B. Plessy v. Ferguson
• C. Griswold v. Connecticut
• D. Roe v. Wade

Answer: (D)

The main idea is that the Constitution protects a woman's right to choose to terminate a pregnancy as part of the right to privacy. Roe v. Wade held that a woman has a fundamental, constitutional right to obtain an abortion, grounded in the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Because of that right, states cannot ban abortion in the early stages of pregnancy; after fetal viability, states may regulate or restrict abortions, with exceptions to protect the mother's life or health. This decision expanded privacy protections from contraception to the abortion decision and established nationwide access to legal abortion (at the time). It builds on the privacy principles established in Griswold v. Connecticut, which protected contraception as a private matter, but Roe specifically applied those privacy rights to abortion. The other cases address entirely different issues—school segregation and the earlier "separate but equal" doctrine—so they do not establish abortion rights.

The main idea is that the Constitution protects a woman's right to choose to terminate a pregnancy as part of the right to privacy. Roe v. Wade held that a woman has a fundamental, constitutional right to obtain an abortion, grounded in the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Because of that right, states cannot ban abortion in the early stages of pregnancy; after fetal viability, states may regulate or restrict abortions, with exceptions to protect the mother's life or health. This decision expanded privacy protections from contraception to the abortion decision and established nationwide access to legal abortion (at the time). It builds on the privacy principles established in Griswold v. Connecticut, which protected contraception as a private matter, but Roe specifically applied those privacy rights to abortion. The other cases address entirely different issues—school segregation and the earlier "separate but equal" doctrine—so they do not establish abortion rights.